Sweet Freedom!

September was a horrible month!

I'm so glad it's over.

Between the baby's teething and separation anxiety I'm not sure I put the baby down the entire month. The sling was my best friend. I walked endlessly with the baby. Good thing she's so cute, or I might have left her by the side of the road.

I'm sure someone would have picked her up right?

There was my birthday. Anyone remember my birthday last year? Apparently my car has decided to make this a tradition. This year we replaced the battery cable, the ignition switch, the starter and the alternator. Surprisingly the battery itself is just fine. We were so broke when the alternator decided to die a slow death we decided to see how long we could live without a new one. The car seemed to be working as long as we didn't run the air conditioner. Now bear in mind that we live in the desert where the temps are still in the 100s. Yet we decided to live old school. We cooled down with the wind. But breaking down at Wal-Mart with the four children and no cell phone while The Greatest was at home asleep on the couch made me desparate for a working car, and just a bit creative with the finances. We purchased the new alternator with our ziplock bag of change. All I can say is thank goodness for coin star. I'm so glad I didn't have to count all those pennies by hand. The Greatest has forbidden me from having a birthday next year, the car just can't take it.

We finally cleaned out the rental house and returned the keys. I am a good tenant. One side effect of being a former military spouse is my rentals can pass a white glove inspection when we move out. Since I could not put the baby down while she was awake, every moment the baby was napping was spent cleaning. I scrubbed everything that stood still. The unfortunate side effect of all that friction was the loss of the skin on some of my fingers. That right. I scrubbed until the skin came off my hands! And I cut my thumb pretty deep cleaning the glass shower door. But our deposit was promptly returned, and my reputation as the best tenant E.V.E.R. remains intact. So glad I don't have to go through that in a year.

Pork Chop was baptised and the other girls were blessed. This meant company coming from out of town, which meant much cleaning of my other house, you know, the one I actually live in. It also meant sewing three new dresses for the occasion. Every night after the children went to bed I could be found at the sewing machine. I'm actually getting pretty good with a pattern. I've finally mastered understitching. Just don't look too closely at my zippers. My zipper technique is still a work in progress. But Sweet Pea's sleeves are white cotton perfection. They just might get their very own blog post, they're so perfect.

Between the dresses, and the cleaning, and the baby, I don't think I've slept more than five hours a night all month. I'm tired! I was quite happy to wave good-bye to September.

So today was a great day. I woke up with nothing scheduled to do. There was no agenda. The rental is returned. Company has come and gone (I hope they come back soon!). The dresses have been worn and are already in the laundry pile. My daily agenda was clear. Clear to relax. Clear to breath. Clear to knit.

The freedom was staggering. What do I do? Where do I start?

I was giddy with anticipation. Oh the things I've been waiting to knit. I've got sweaters, scarves, hats, shawls all just waiting to be created. I've got squishy yarn just waiting to flow through my fingers. I just can't decide where to begin.

Then I remembered. Our annual church Halloween party is on the 11th. Now who on earth holds a Halloween party that early in the month? Honestly. I think it should be against the law to hold a party that requires costumes before the 15th. But nobody asked me. And I shouldn't complain to loudly because goodness knows I don't actually want to be in charge. I realized I'd better get started on the Halloween costumes if I want them done in time. I'm elbow deep in black tulle, yellow satin and blue gingham. Knitting will have to wait a few more days.

*grumble, grumble* And I call this blog a knitting blog. *grumble, grumble, grumble*